Abstract:
NANOSCIENCE RESEARCHER | Couple were taking a walk near their California home

Before leaving for his nearly nightly walk, Inder Batra, a physics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, embraced his 89-year-old mother.

Batra and his wife were spending the summer with Batra's mother at their second home near San Jose, Calif., but never returned from their walk Monday night.

They were struck by a speeding car, killing Batra, 65, and his wife, Uma, 57. The 19-year-old driver and another teen in the car also died.

Inder Batra was hired by UIC to chair its physics department in 1998. He stepped down to become a full professor in 2004. He was a well-known researcher in the area of nanoscience, solid state physics, fluid dynamics and high-performance computing.